RaysUp a week in New York with Yankees & Mets plus bad behavior in Toronto

193 BaseballBiz Mets Yankees RaysUp Tampa Bay Rays with Mat Germain

[00:00:00] Mark Corbett: Welcome to BaseballBiz. I'm Mark Corbett your host, and with me today, of course, is that Supreme Analyst with all things Rays baseball. And that is Mr. Mat Germain. How you doing today, Mat ? 

[00:00:17] Mat Germain: I'm doing outstanding. How about 

[00:00:18] Mark Corbett: you? Man, I'm having a wonderful day. Well, I'll tell you what, it's been kind of a not so wonderful day.

[00:00:24] Mark Corbett: I had great expectations. I mean, I, I'm, I'm looking at the Rays and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, look, we've got a team in the 800 s winning category. This, this is stupifying it, it's amazing. And then there's New York. 

[00:00:40] Mat Germain: To be quite honest, it's not as bad as it seems on paper. , I think they, all the games were fairly close with the ones that they lost anyway. , so when you're losing games by one run, the margins aren't really terrible. , so they, it's just that the odds didn't fall in your favor and you've gotta clean up a couple of things.

[00:00:56] Mat Germain: So I'm, I'm sure we'll talk a little bit about that. [00:01:00] 

[00:01:00] Mark Corbett: Yeah, man, I, I'm, I'm, my run deferential thing is getting hurt. What can I say? But seriously, it has been amazing to watch these young men and offensively there's doing some great things. I think you and I both will talk a little bit about where we see some room for our improvement and what Kevin has to work with.

[00:01:19] Mark Corbett: I mean, we started out with this. , I had hoped if not to sweep, at least to take the series against the Yankees and we wound up splitting it. But we got to see some really great talent playing out there in all of those games. 

[00:01:34] Mat Germain: I think it was the first time this year where it felt like a playoff atmosphere.

[00:01:38] Mat Germain: Like both teams were engaged. The hype was up. , Before that the Rays were coasting a little bit of on cruise control. So I thought that was the first series where they got tested and then maybe it's a little bit of lag after that in, in the Met series, but I felt like that had some carryover, , where there some of the issues that propped up during the [00:02:00] Yankees, uh, series, especially the pen , became an even bigger problem during the Mets one because , it continued basically.

[00:02:08] Mark Corbett: There's one guy, I'm just go ahead and say his name right now. Jason, Adam. Oh my gosh. At Poor Lad man. He thought he had lost the game the other night when, uh mm-hmm. Judge had hit, hit that one ball during the Yankee series and Siri got all the way back out there and caught it. Adam had already given up.

[00:02:26] Mark Corbett: He had his body, he had just collapsed over himself and. He just had so much difficulty last night. Last night being, , of course Wednesday was Thursday evening right now while we're talking. But there's that young man. I just don't know. I don't know. , if he's just having a difficult time or we need some strength, man, we, we got, I'm, I'm going down the list of you.

[00:02:48] Mark Corbett: Let's come back. Let's start with the Yankees, cuz I can go on and on about what's happened in the last few days, brother. Okay. Go into the Yankees, . Going there and at a time when a radio [00:03:00] station in New York saying the Rays are cheating. I love those folks. Uh, somebody has, they think they're Jomboy, they're not gonna get there.

[00:03:10] Mark Corbett: But the Rays went to New York and there's been a little bit of a rivalry back and forth. , you know what, it's so much so that after Arozarena had hit a home run earlier, That he got beaned the next inning. Well, we talked about this before though, didn't we? 

[00:03:27] Mat Germain: Yeah, I, I think, part of the reason it becomes a bigger deal with the Rays and the Yankees is it goes all the way back to Cece Sabathia days.

[00:03:35] Mat Germain: Oh, wow. , and even before that, like there was always blame game going around and I think. The Yankees, let's, like, did it on purpose almost just to be antagonistic, that they wanted to, they wanted the Rays to not be thinking about baseball and to be thinking about other things instead. , which sort of, , , it was effective in that way.

[00:03:57] Mat Germain: , so right now, but what's interesting is [00:04:00] you can watch Kevin Cash be cool as a cucumber the entire year. He goes up against Aaron Boone and his blood pressure. boils, and that says a lot about the person, right? There's something about that. And Aaron Boone is the one making those calls like I. Firmly believe that he's the one saying, this is a time we gotta respond boys.

[00:04:20] Mat Germain: And I'm telling you, it, it's not the way we should be playing the game anymore. It, it really isn't. There's no need for it. We need to allow those players like your Randy Arozarena to be themselves, to be flamboyant, to be marketing tools for the game in a positive light. And anytime we start plucking them the way that Aaron Boone ordered, , It's not a productive and positive thing for the game of baseball at all.

[00:04:45] Mat Germain: It's like bringing back the times when managers used to kick sand on the umpires and that kind of thing. There, there came a time when that had to go in the same way that sim things that had to go with hockey and, and it's just time, it's time to turn that page. [00:05:00] 

[00:05:00] Mark Corbett: Yeah. You know, I wonder if the ghost deal of Billy Martin lives inside of Aaron Boone for all that anxious nature that he seems to have out there.

[00:05:09] Mark Corbett: I saw, what was it the other night with the Blue Jays? You know, they're, there's a, they're right in the middle of a, um, Series going on, and wouldn't you know it, uh, Aaron Boone gets kicked out the other day. He takes his gum and he takes it out and he tosses it across the field. And I'm thinking, man, oh man, that, that just stands up as a person of great character, God.

[00:05:30] Mat Germain: But there's a lot of the non character things going on with the Yankees in jail. Wow. For a clean cut team. They sure aren't clean, that's for sure. 

[00:05:38] Mark Corbett: Oh no, they've, they've got, they've got a little ugliness, but I, I do have to respect some of the talent out there and names I hadn't really thought about before.

[00:05:48] Mark Corbett: Was it Harrison? Bader? Harrison Bader with the Yankees. He was just performing fantastic out there in the outfield, and he was, you know, bringing a bid in with the, the offense as well for that team. [00:06:00] Right. Harrison 

[00:06:01] Mat Germain: Bader is bringing a little bit of the, the Cardinal way to the Yankees, which they desperately need to be quite honest.

[00:06:07] Mat Germain: And in a little bit of the same way that Rizzo brought some class and, and kind of, uh, uh, you know, somebody that you respect and on that team as well. I think both those guys are guys that'll show up every day, play hard, although Rizzo's D has taken a hit this year, I don't know what's going on, if it's a mental lapse, uh, or if he's just relaxing too much out there and thinking yes.

[00:06:28] Mat Germain: The play made, but, uh, but at the plate, he's, he's doing his thing and I think Bader fits right in with him. So between the two of them, they have a good supporting cast around, uh, Judge, uh, the Gleyber Torres though is the one guy on that team where I think, uh, Epitome of a lazy all-star that just for some reason can't get plays made, uh whenever he is on the field and he always seems to have, , little hot stretches here and there at the plate, but he always seems to tail off after a while as well. I think [00:07:00] the Yankees might see that now, where they're like, we have to target the right players that have the right character because they've been bitten so many times before with guys that may not have pulled their own. 

[00:07:12] Mark Corbett: Well, you know, like Brett Gardner, it was, I think the last couple years he was there, he was not pulling his own, he, not that he was a slacker, but he just wasn't able to bring it to the game to it.

[00:07:21] Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. And yeah. But, and, and there's some talk about the kind of a negative energy from the Yankees and certainly Brett Gardner, he had his, in their AITs, he would beat up the entire dugout to death. I mean, that's not the sort of behavior you really wanna show your kids. Right. So, let's see what else here my friend.

[00:07:43] Mark Corbett: There's some sadness this week too. I mean, looking at pitching, looking at Drew Man, drew Rasmussen, seeing what a great talent, you know, playing fantastic. And then suddenly he's not with us. He's man with two Tommy John surgeries is [00:08:00] feeling what I think some stress in, uh, his arm. Around his elbow, and if you hear anything around the arm or elbow with a pitcher, you're thinking, oh my gosh, Tommy Johns.

[00:08:09] Mark Corbett: So he's gonna be out for a while. I don't know if they've actually determined anything on Drew or not, but he is a pivotal part of that five-man rotation that the Rays wanna have a strong rotation. 

[00:08:19] Mat Germain: What they've said is that there's no expectation that he'll require Tommy John, and, and that there's nothing structural that's kind of, uh, needing to be repaired.

[00:08:30] Mat Germain: So it, it's more of a rest , program. And I don't, he might get an injection. He may not, I have no idea. But my idea is, is. 4, 20, 23 when he returns, he should be going to the pen where he's needed, where he has experience, and he should be doing, you know, two innings, maybe three innings, sometimes, outings where he can actually, , nail down a lot of these winds that the razor letting slip through their fingers.

[00:08:57] Mat Germain: Against some of the better teams and in a playoff [00:09:00] scenario, I'm just trying to picture, you know, seven innings of Shane McClanahan and then two of Drew Rasmussen. It sounds like an ideal playoff scenario to me. 

[00:09:10] Mark Corbett: So what Drew gone, but like I said, Bring him back on a limited status cuz that's what I worry about with those arms. Mm-hmm. You know, we've got this great talent, but how much. How much should we use them? I mean, at what point do you, you bring 'em back, say, okay, I'm going to, I want to keep that arm safe.

[00:09:26] Mark Corbett: Mm-hmm. I'm asking these young men to throw faster than have ever thrown in, you know, at least from two or three decades ago. And I'm asking them to do it consistently. Uh, and oh, by the way, you, you can't have any pine tar or anything to keep your stickiness on your hand because, you know, looking back, That was part of the problem.

[00:09:45] Mark Corbett: Some people thought when, when Tyler went out with anyone having to have Tommy John, that his problem became when he could no longer use any kinda sticky substance. Right. And I 

[00:09:56] Mat Germain: think, you know, the pressure that these players are feeling [00:10:00] because they're number one, they're measured against the great, right?

[00:10:03] Mat Germain: They're measured against the guys, how many complete games they had, how many innings they threw in a year, how many. And so they're always measured on with that yardstick, essentially. So in their minds, they still have two accomplished the same performance in terms of length and innings as in the past.

[00:10:19] Mat Germain: And. They've gotta increase the velocity by five to 10 miles an hour. That's just not physically doable. So, and my train of thought is, yes you can, there are certain workhorses, there are guys, like, let's say Gerrit Cole or some of the guys that are, that hold up well, you don't see any indications that anything is wrong if you wanna ride them out at a certain rate.

[00:10:41] Mat Germain: That makes sense. For the majority of guys, and I mean the majority, you have to go to a six-man rotation and you have to, or you have to se seriously limit the innings. Now in the Rays case, they tried that limit of innings with Drew Rasmussen. In their credit, he barely ever [00:11:00] went over five innings, even last year.

[00:11:01] Mat Germain: No Mat er how efficient he was, it was five innings. You're out. So. The Ray did a really good job. I thought of mitigating the risk. Now, despite that, he still had issues, but you gotta remember two Tommy Johns right back to back when he was young. It, that has a serious impact on that arm, and that's why I believe his future is in the pen.

[00:11:23] Mat Germain: You've tested the limits now as a starter, you know, that wasn't beneficial to his, uh, overall outcomes, so now you're gonna have to use him as a high leverage guy. And you're gonna have to pick and choose when you use 'em. And that's why I said it's two or three innings for him and as a relief, because if you use 'em as a closer and you're gonna wanna use 'em on back to back, sometimes back to back to back days, that's not ideal either.

[00:11:46] Mat Germain: You want to be able to have him go, you know? I don't know. Let's say 40 pitches max in, in his outings where he is done and then he gets a day or two off afterwards at a minimum. You know, and, [00:12:00] and so I think the Rays with the way that their pen is set up, they can accommodate that and still have a very effective pen.

[00:12:06] Mat Germain: There's guys right now getting. Four or five days rest, that Cash refuses to use and he keeps going back to the same guy. So, I mean, what's the difference? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I think Kevin Cash has been dealt a very raw hand with the, the pen and, and something's gotta give because the Rays are playing a thin line here with, with the way that they're.

[00:12:28] Mat Germain: Rotating guys in and out of that pen at a certain rate. And first of all, it looks bad. Yes, I get that. It's giving people an opportunity, but it's, it's like you're churning the meat grinder of, of bringing guys Yes. You're part of a team. Okay. You're gone. Okay. Yes. You're part of a team. Okay. Yes, you're gone.

[00:12:47] Mat Germain: Okay. And it, and it's sort of this, it's becoming a, a little bit ridiculous and I get what they're doing and what they're trying to do, but it's too much. It's just. I don't know. Uh, I'm going off on the sideline here. No, [00:13:00] no, you're, you're, I think Drew Drew could help that. 

[00:13:03] Mark Corbett: Well see, and the thing of it is the pin is not as strong as we'd like.

[00:13:07] Mark Corbett: I mean, Kelly and Kelly li Little, um, she's, you know, what we were getting the other day, poche, he's looking fairly good, but a consistency. And doing the taxi service of bringing players up and back and forth between Durham and here, I don't think that serves anybody. And quite honestly today, you know, being.

[00:13:27] Mark Corbett: Thursday watching the Rays play the Mets and seeing Taj Bradley out there and I'm thinking, is he really ready? I guess if he's gonna bring him up, playing the Mets is as good as any for him to get out there. And he had a rough first inning. Kyle Snyder, the hitting coach went out there and spoke with Taj Bradley who's pitching and you know, he must have had a conversation with cuz things did get better.

[00:13:52] Mark Corbett: My question comes to you, Mat , on this is. Is there, there's not [00:14:00] really you're, it is all about winning at this point. I, I should be, I guess the training should all be done long before they come up, you know, to play in, in the show. And I feel like we're still training some people after they get to the Rays.

[00:14:14] Mat Germain: That's the Rays. That's always been the Rays. That will always be the, Shane McClanahan made his first outing in the playoffs. Like there's very few organizations that, and I think the Rays, especially in the last two years have decided to say talent trumps. , experience. They're going with that model. And I think it's the right model, and that's why I'm pushing for guys like Jacob Lopez to be in the pen instead of rotating all these, you know, oh, maybe they can eek out a living in the, in the back end of the pen.

[00:14:47] Mat Germain: Guys. Like, I would rather have, like Jacob Lopez has a almost 15 K per nine right now in aa, and he's dominating. He's just back from injury this year. So I get that, you know, wanting to build him up over time. I, uh, [00:15:00] I understand it, but he, he's the type of guy that I would rather them use. That's an internal piece that they know thoroughly, that they'll use consistently.

[00:15:09] Mat Germain: And it sets this, this kind of routine in the pen. Right now you've got maybe four or five steady guys in the pen and everybody else is just churning all the way through like three guys all the time. Somebody new over and over again. And that. Wears on the, on the camaraderie and the dependency between one another and the pen.

[00:15:27] Mat Germain: And it also wears on how Kevin Cash has confidence in these guys. How is Kevin Cash supposed to have any confidence in bringing these guys in and in key situations? Managers are very finicky when it comes to pen use. Even Kevin Cash and, and if he has to leave Ryan Thompson in there over 25 pitches and he's facing Aaron Judge and he gives up a home run.

[00:15:49] Mat Germain: You cannot blame Ryan Thompson at that point. It becomes a Rays front office that failed Kevin Cash and didn't give him the better alternative to put into that [00:16:00] situation so that Ryan Thompson doesn't have to throw two inns against their Yankees. To me, that's the, that's the problem. And when you have a guy that's fighting his touch and feel like Jason, Adam is, and I know it's there, he'll figure it out at some point.

[00:16:13] Mat Germain: Right now it looks like he's throwing batting practice. It looks really bad. Yeah, and it's because, So his, his pitches are floating a little bit. They're not biting the way that he's used to and he's trying to get that last touch and feel to click and it will, but when it doesn't, when you're a guy with his kind of, , profile, it looks really bad and it makes him look like he, he's never gonna get there.

[00:16:36] Mat Germain: But he will, I think, I don't think it's injury related in his case. And he knows that like he, he's fighting through it. , it's just when you have that as being your best high leverage performer right now, because of the issues that Pete Fairbanks having, I, I still think there's a chance that Pete might be injured.

[00:16:54] Mat Germain: I don't know. He's chugging it out there, but there's something different in a, [00:17:00] whether it's cold related, I, I don't know. But it certainly doesn't give you confidence for the playoffs, you know? No, no. If the guy can't pitch in a cold, he can't pitch in October. 

[00:17:11] Mark Corbett: Yeah, well, really, and and last night was indicative of that.

[00:17:14] Mark Corbett: I mean, anybody watching the game, you see him out there. He had his turtleneck on, and after each pitch, you see him put his hand back into his rear pocket. I dunno if he had a heater back in there or something to keep it warm. But the man's. It's not an injury, but what he's facing and what he's challenged with is I think the blood cells are capillaries, being able to move quickly in the hand and, uh, get circulation.

[00:17:37] Mark Corbett: He was looking for, and it cold weather had it gonna happen, you know, I mean, it's not gonna be as well, he, it's not the best conditions for him to be. To give his best performance. Last night he referred to himself as the lesser Pete. Yeah. Meaning, meaning that Alonso was the greater Pete because of him hit getting that ball off of him hitting the 

[00:17:57] Mat Germain: ball.

[00:17:58] Mat Germain: It does bring up a good question though, [00:18:00] because now you, you start facing the question of how important is home field advantage to the Rays? It's extremely important because then they'll know, they'll be in the dome for the majority of games in any series. And to me that means that Pete would have all the feeling of Of his hands and fingers, right?

[00:18:20] Mat Germain: Yeah. During those starts. So that has to be a priority for the Rays. They've gotta do whatever they need to do to make sure that they win the division and that they have home field advantage through the playoffs.

[00:18:33] Mark Corbett: this week didn't make anybody feel a whole lot more comfortable. I mean, outside of the fantastic start we had, but you've said it, I've said it.

[00:18:40] Mark Corbett: There's gonna be a time where we're not, knocking outta the park every time. Hey, however, there's a lot of home runs this week, but you're not gonna necessarily win every game. And, and this week was kind of, um, a case study in that. 

[00:18:54] Mat Germain: Yeah, most definitely. But there's gonna be stretches like that, right?

[00:18:57] Mat Germain: . First of all, the pen that [00:19:00] we're seeing right now is going to have two big pieces added to it between now and. I think mid August. So when Sean Armstrong is supposed to come back at the beginning of June, uh, that's a big piece that I know Kevin Cash will trust and use in the right spots. And then Andrew Kittridge is another one in August that's supposed to return.

[00:19:19] Mat Germain: Now, I've said this over and over again to people on Twitter and anywhere else when I talk to them about baseball. There's no assurances that a reliever coming back from injury will be as effective as he was before he had that injury. Right. There's always a, a, a time when they're trying to, , get back into the swing of things.

[00:19:36] Mat Germain: It's very rare that you'll get a guy that, that just clicks right away. Um, so I still think the Rays will look for at least one. Piece to add on the market, , at the trade deadline or before if they can. Um, I don't know. It seems to me like the Rays on the trade market are, are aiming for elite. They don't want to sit and be mediocre.

[00:19:58] Mat Germain: They want to get the best guys. [00:20:00] So you're talking Alexis Diaz, you're talking, and I think, you know, someone like Greg Jones would be a big interest to the Reds. Uh, he's playing center field right now in Durham, and he would be elite in their center field in for the reds. Uh, they have a really strong core of, of young infielders, so if they could add something with his range, , In center field, I think it would help their whole team out a lot in all their pitchers.

[00:20:23] Mat Germain: So him, and, two other pieces might get it done. It's a reliever. The Reds shouldn't really care about a reliever. They're not aiming to win it all this year. Uh, I know it's hard and you're always saying, well, they have six years of control. And Alexis Diaz, Alexis Diaz could have three bad years like his brother did, you know, and then find it back again.

[00:20:42] Mat Germain: You don't know how it'll all shake out over the, those six years. So the Rays are still taking a risk. By taking on a reliever for a lot of talent. So, but I do think that's the, the level of guy that they need to be aiming for because if they go into the playoffs [00:21:00] with something similar to what they have now, even if they did add Drew Rasmussen, they would still be thought walking a thin line that doesn't give him much assurance, to be quite honest.

[00:21:12] Mat Germain: It's good. It might even be very good by the end of the year, but it's not. Elites and I, we've seen it with the Braves, with the Dodgers who go out and they have four high leverage relievers when they walk into the playoffs, and there's a reason for that, right? You gotta be able to chug them out night after night because you're always in high pressure in the playoffs.

[00:21:30] Mat Germain: So that's the aim really, to get four to five guys you're very, very, very, very comfortable with in playoff situations. 

[00:21:39] Mark Corbett: Well, let me ask you, being the Rays fan that you are , and analyzing the game as well as you do, as far as pitching, we've talked about, Jeffrey Springs being out. We've talked about Tyler being out, drew being out.

[00:21:50] Mark Corbett: What, what does that five-man rotation or six-man rotation look like now? What is that? 

[00:21:55] Mat Germain: To me, as soon as TylerGlasnow comes back, it's Shane McClanahan one, [00:22:00] Tyler Glasnow two, uh, Zach, Eflin three. And then you have , , Josh Fleming opener style, whether he starts or opens, I don't know. And then you have Taj Bradley, to me, that's a very strong five, and you've got Yonni Chirinos still refining his stuff down in aaa. He can pop up once in a while. Maybe if Josh Fleming ends up being hurt for a little bit, he can take Josh Fleming's, . Place, whatever it may be. They have some wiggle room there. I think the key, once they do that, once Tyler Glasnow comes back, and once Taj Bradley is firmly in a rotation, they need to promote some of the AA talent to AAA to prepare them to be the next wave.

[00:22:37] Mat Germain: So guys like Sean Huntley and Jacob Lopez should be, Right up to aaa, maybe Mason Montgomery along with them. I don't know how satisfied they're with his performance. It's a little bit kind of, eh, not as strong as last year, so maybe they give him it a little bit more time. Uh, Cole Wilcox has had a few hiccups along the way as well, but you're talking four really strong AA guys that need [00:23:00] to have that AAA experience to refine what they've.

[00:23:03] Mat Germain: Done so far this year because they'll have guys behind them as well. You have Hawk, you have guys like Logan Wor Workman that are gonna come back from injury. You also have, uh, Ian Seymour, um, there's a whole bunch of guys that'll be back eventually that they need to make room for. I think you need to know what you have in those four.

[00:23:23] Mat Germain: So in Wilcox, Montgomery Lopez, and, , Hunley, you have to know what you have in those four so that you can make rule five decisions by the end of the year. , and then, so it's gonna be interesting. And you're also marketing them then , at that point for a potential trade deadline. Right. So if the Rays do want to include one of those guys, two, go get an elite reliever, then that makes them even more attractive to other teams, assuming they, they do well.

[00:23:50] Mark Corbett: , you've, in the past, you've talked about. The strength of the farm system and there still needs to be a little bit more nurturing for them. So we'll see. And I, I hope that comes to be, [00:24:00] I'd love to see those guys move up and I'd love to see you have a solid team with McClanahan, with Tyler, Zach, you know, Josh, uh, Taj and, and Yani and to me, yeah, that I'd love to see them solid and know that they're gonna be healthy and be there, but like you're saying, we gotta, we gotta be bringing those people up for the strength.

[00:24:20] Mark Corbett: Now, today on Twitter, Mat , I noticed , there were some conjecture anyway about potentially some other people coming onto. The Tampa Bay Rays roster and you can find Matat, on Twitter @Mat_Germain_ underscore, and tell us, , a little bit about the discussion on potential new Rays.

[00:24:45] Mat Germain: Which ones in particular are you talking about? 

[00:24:47] Mark Corbett: How about Pete Alonso? The Pete 

[00:24:49] Mat Germain: Alonso one? Yeah, so I, I kind of threw this out, but I don't know, I think it was two years ago because I, , there was a whole thing about looking at [00:25:00] the trend that the Rays were bringing in a lot of Tampa natives and a lot of Florida natives, and they seemed to be focused on that front.

[00:25:06] Mat Germain: So I started talking about how Peter Lonzo would be a great ad at that point. But obviously everybody knew there was no way. That was ever going to happen. Fast forward , to now , and in between having Freddie Freeman offered 140 million for seven years by the Rays so that he could anchor their lineup, and then knowing that they're more concentrated now , on, , Hitters with power in our lineup than ever before.

[00:25:30] Mat Germain: And then having that Pete Alonso come to Tampa last year and kind of talk about how warmly, you know, he sees the area, spends his winters down here, yada, yada, yada. And he'd lo, he was just elated it to be playing at the Trop because he'd watched, , a whole bunch of baseball there, yada, yada, yada.

[00:25:47] Mat Germain: And, They got the ball rolling in terms of thinking, okay, well you've offered one aging first baseman , 140 million over seven years. How much would you be willing to do for Tampa native Pete Alonso when he becomes a [00:26:00] free agent after next year? , That's assuming that, Steve Cohen lets him even not lets him walk out of , their stadium with without a check in hand, which is, there's a good chance that Steve Cohen is gonna just write him a blank check and say, here, fill in the numbers , and we'll make it happen.

[00:26:18] Mat Germain: But after seeing what's happening to the Mets this year, is he going to be, as you know, forthcoming with that as he otherwise would be? And what's Pete thinking? , what does he really want? If he looks at the Rays at that point and says, I really like what they've built. I like where they're going.

[00:26:34] Mat Germain: They're gonna have a new stadium. I want to be a part of that, , Could he be enticed to jump ship and join the Rays and at that point the Rays could even do it and still be at under a hundred million dollars, which is ridiculous to think, but they're in that kind of, , high leverage position where they can still sign Pete with a really empty contract and have plenty of space to do other things.

[00:26:55] Mat Germain: They're not stuck with what they have, unlike the. [00:27:00] The Mets, well, I shouldn't say unlike the Mets, cuz they're, a lot of their guys are on short-term contracts, but , they don't have the system to support them. So if Pete signs in New York, he knows , , that Steve Cohen is gonna bring in a lot of talent, but through free agency.

[00:27:14] Mat Germain: But it hasn't worked out really well. Right. And they don't have the system to support that long term with , guys who can fill the gaps. So does he put faith in that and in being able to get a championship there? Or does he come to Tampa and say they've got a young nucleus, an affordable one, a brilliant front office that is going to support them all the way through new income coming in?

[00:27:38] Mat Germain: So basically they're heading towards where the Padres are right now, where they have, , a handful of mega stars that are just supposed to be carrying a team forward. Now, this year hasn't gone though their way either. But you would hope with homegrown guys it would be a little bit different. 

[00:27:56] Mark Corbett: Well, with the money that Steve Cohen's paid for those dad Mets team, I think everybody [00:28:00] expected more from them.

[00:28:01] Mark Corbett: And by the way, we didn't give them a gift with the wins, but I did hear one of the announcers say today that it wasn't. Back all the way until like April 16th, since the Mets had won two back to back games, so mm-hmm. We, we gave them that little privilege this week, but yeah. Uh, a lot. So Pete is deeply TAed to this area and.

[00:28:25] Mark Corbett: I know you've, I've talked about this before. I work sometimes down there at the Tampa Baseball Museum, and there's been some conversations with him back and forth about possibly doing some things. I know back during spring training, he was in town and he was doing some for plant high school, his alma mater.

[00:28:41] Mark Corbett: He was doing some things down there for the baseball team. , he's very involved in this community and even when you watch the Rays on ballet sports here, uh, one of the commercials that'll pop up is for, , a fishing company. Or should say, I guess a fishing equipment. It's out there in the water.

[00:28:56] Mark Corbett: Somebody with a boat. Oh my gosh, it's Pete Alonso. [00:29:00] So, you know, he, he, he loves to fish too. That's, he's tied in with that. There's a lot of things that, uh, can make it attractive for him, I would think. And a history with this community as well. , I don't know, man, I would, I'd like to see that. 

[00:29:13] Mat Germain: Yeah, I'd be fully on board with it.

[00:29:15] Mat Germain: It would open up a lot of different, avenues. Even if , the Rays wanted to make a crazy offer to get 'em from the Mets, assuming their season continues to kind of flounder a little bit and maybe they lose faith in their direction of their team. They want to get a little bit younger. , if you're offAarong Curtis Mead plus, , one or two other pieces that are very intriguing to the Mets, would they bite at that point and then, For the Rays, it would be with the understanding that you can negotiate an extension with Pete Alonso.

[00:29:44] Mat Germain: I would imagine if they did something like that. Right. , at that point then it makes sense. It's sort of like the Roy Holiday trade with, with the, the Blue Jays. Right. They were, they, they gave the Phil Phillies, uh, an opening basically, I don't know if it was 48 hours or something like that, [00:30:00] where they said, okay, you can negotiate a contract with Roy.

[00:30:02] Mat Germain: If you get it done, you get the extension in, then we make the trade. And , it's a way that you can do it so that both sides get out of it what they want. Because if you're giving up 18 years of talent, , you definitely want to make sure you're getting , your fair share of, , of Pete Alonso at that point.

[00:30:18] Mark Corbett: Yeah. But he's been fun to watch. This has been, even though we did win all these series, it has been fun to watch this week. I mean, watching Verlander take them out. He wasn't the verlander of old, but it was interesting to see a man like him do what he could do and then to see Kodai Senga I'm not sure, but.

[00:30:40] Mark Corbett: He was just absolutely amazing. What, he had 12 strikeouts in five innings. I think he pitched for total of six, but I think he got 12 of 'em in the first five. So just amazing to see that kind of talent perform in his little fork, ghost ball, or whatever that is. Yeah, it's, uh, [00:31:00] so they've, they've got, it was great to be able to see some real talent out there.

[00:31:04] Mark Corbett: I'm sure that Steve Cohen, I'd like to see him perform a little better and I'm sure Buck Showalter is getting his chewed a few times each week. So hopefully, , you wish him well. Just wish we'd won that series. 

[00:31:16] Mat Germain: I think if, if I were the Mets right now, I would tweak it the same way that the Braves did when they lost Acuna , which is , to get a couple of power, , veteran gritty, , corner outfielders.

[00:31:29] Mat Germain: I feel like that's what they're missing is that, , Dan Vogelbach has no. Place on that team whatsoever. I'm sorry, just drop that like a bad habit. Go get a very, solid outfielder with power that can actually, , supplement the, you can't leave it all on Nimo and I'm sorry, but Francisco Lindor is not the power hitter that you want him to be in that tool hole.

[00:31:51] Mat Germain: So move Pete Alonso up to that two hole and then get somebody behind him that can support him. You know? So if they did that, I think they'll be [00:32:00] fine and their lineup would takeoff. And it's a very talented team. They have the pitching, assuming Scher can find himself again, um, that can actually scare a lot of teams in the playoffs, cuz those guys are not gonna lay down for anyone.

[00:32:12] Mat Germain: Um, I, I like Senga. Senga has, uh, a bag of tricks that definitely can baffle, some teams and the Rays seem to be aggressive with them. Uh, maybe they should have let 'em try to hit the zone more often instead of swinging early. But, , I don't know, , the, the Mets could be like the Phillies of last year where they started slow and they took off after a while.

[00:32:34] Mat Germain: I feel, 

[00:32:36] Mark Corbett: well, it's gonna be interesting watching them because like I said, they're, they were, they're, in my mind, they're grossly underperforming from the expectation and in my mind also, that's probably true of the Phillies and a few others across all of baseball. But, , , just cause I'd like to dig at the Yankees as you well know this.

[00:32:54] Mark Corbett: Oh, let's go back to them for just a moment. Not even gonna talk about the series with the Ray. Let's talk about what they're [00:33:00] doing right now in Toronto, man. Oh gosh. The back and forth between Aaron Boone and in the managers series 

[00:33:07] Mat Germain: Greet. Jesus. Geez. I'm sorry, but I love a l e series because I find them so fascinating.

[00:33:14] Mat Germain: I watch all, all the time. I'll even watch Baltimore and Red Sox games cuz I want to know what the, things that you'll see highlights of later on and you'll be like, oh, what happened during that game? Why, why are the benches clearing? What happened? 

[00:33:28] Mark Corbett: Yeah, well there's, there's always something, and as you said, I think sometimes Mr.

[00:33:33] Mark Corbett: Boone, Aaron Boone inspires a lot of that, you know, had, uh, who's the lady Lindsay from Close Calls Sports, and I've had her on the past, I noticed lately in her YouTube channel where she's explaining certain calls. She's had the Yankees up there a lot lately with everything going on. And part of my little jab at the Yankees this week is, is a couple days old.

[00:33:55] Mark Corbett: And that's from. Domingo German. Oh my gosh. [00:34:00] Come on, man. Really 

[00:34:02] Mat Germain: well, and it comes, it goes deeper than that j Gerrit. Cole's been said to have, like some of the tackiest tack that there ever was in the past, , and. I think, you know, do you remember the shot of Yadier Molina?

[00:34:15] Mat Germain: , and the ball stuck to his guard, like everybody's used it at some point. So yes. Now we're in a new era and people have to adjust. And when you're like German and you decide to ignore that, um, I think it's just to your detriment. But I. MLBs gonna have to come up with something because the guys are gonna keep trying to push the boundaries.

[00:34:34] Mat Germain: You can't have a CSI team on the sidelines. So the umpires are completely ill-equipped to make that fine line. Is this and this is that. Right? They're like, well, it was super tacky, so you're up and that's it. Like, what? What is that? Like how, I don't know. It's so arbitrary. It seems like a, it's like calling traveling in the N B A, right?

[00:34:59] Mat Germain: You guys take [00:35:00] five or six steps sometimes and there's no traveling, and then all of a sudden one guy, , in a key moment, oh, a half a step too much , so I don't know. 

[00:35:08] Mark Corbett: Yeah, it's a bit of joke. We talk about traveling in, in nba. I was like, first time I, I'd watched college basketball for so many years and I started watching the N B A.

[00:35:16] Mark Corbett: I said, what the hell? What is this going on here? But you know, it's, hmm. Doesn't make sense to me. But Domingo German, if y'all didn't know, I think everybody pretty much well does by now, Yankee's pitcher, he was accused of having some sticky stuff on his hand. But here's the part that gives me, Mat , is about a month ago, and I think they were Yankees, were playing the twins.

[00:35:35] Mark Corbett: And this umpire crew, they told him, they checked his hands, they said, you're sticky. You need to wash your hands. He washed his hands. He came back and I think they were still sticky, but it anyway, um, he knew, he knew better from the, their ch they're looking for you now. What happened is earlier this week, the same umpire crew.

[00:35:56] Mark Corbett: That watched him play. The twins were the same ones [00:36:00] who judged his stickiness this week, and I saw a quote from one of the umpires or something to the effect about, it's the stickiest hand I've ever touched. That sounds a little strange in itself. Maybe a little too, a little too per, a little too personal.

[00:36:15] Mark Corbett: That's, oh gosh, I don't know, man. It's baseball's entertaining a lot of different ways. Sometimes not the way we expect. 

[00:36:24] Mat Germain: I think we give, we give professional ball players a little bit too much credit sometimes. We're like, well, they can't be that dumb. Well, yes, they, Manny Ramirez was caught how many times doing PDs.

[00:36:36] Mat Germain: What, what about, uh, Arod? Same thing like you're talking about the elites. Jeopardizing everything. Why? Well, you're talking about 250 million. I jeopardize quite a bit for 250 million. So you know, Domingo German's trying to keep his job with the Yankees of all places, and he's trying to push those limits to try to make sure he is [00:37:00] effective.

[00:37:00] Mat Germain: The question I have is, without the sticky stuff, would he have dominated to Rays the way he did? 

[00:37:06] Mark Corbett: I don't think so. Probably not. Probably not because, but you know, and it was great to watch him, but whether he had the sticky stuff or not, and I believe it would, it wouldn't hurt for players to have some rosin on their, their hands.

[00:37:18] Mark Corbett: But to be able to say what that level should be, it's, it would be difficult to have some kind of continuity across all the baseball. So we'll put that on the back burner here. Hey, coming up man. The boys are coming home. They've been on the road. Now. Let's see. We were out there with the Yankees. We were out there with the Mets.

[00:37:37] Mark Corbett: We were out there with Orioles. We're finally coming back tomorrow, being Fraty and back at the tr the Razor be playing three games with three games with the Brewers, and then they'll be facing the Jays, uh, four games here at home. And then the Dodgers. So they got, a nice little stretch coming up ahead of home games.

[00:37:57] Mat Germain: 

[00:37:57] Mat Germain: This is the toughest stretch of the season by [00:38:00] far. Like you're, you're talking about the Dodgers coming in and even beyond that you've got the Texas Rangers, the Astros, like, it doesn't get any easier for the Rays until July. I think, , or mid-June, I think they end up with the series against, , the A's.

[00:38:15] Mat Germain: And then at the end of June, they have one against the Royals. But when you get into July, the Rays are gonna have seven days off in July. Seventh and then they have six days off in August. So you're talking about, geez, two months, where the Rays are going to have plenty of time for guys to heal to guys, for guys, especially the starters that they wanna limit some of the innings, change things around a little bit.

[00:38:40] Mat Germain: That's where they're gonna have the opportunity to do it. Um, so I think if they can survive , , and get through this stretch being just slightly over 500 between now and mid-June, then they're an extremely good place. , but they do have to watch the way that they're building the [00:39:00] pen , and leaning on it because I, I keep saying it, but.

[00:39:08] Mat Germain: If they don't resolve their issues quickly enough with a pen, it can become a thing that brings them back to the pack. And then if they're back with the pack, what does that do for the mental state of the team as a whole? We had a historic start. And now look at us like , we're even with X, Y, Z, right?

[00:39:25] Mat Germain: Yeah. , and so I think they, they have to stay at the top, and if they don't, then there's going to be some pressure. We all know how Brandon Lowe does with pressure. I like the fact that he is bringing the back around. He seems more relaxed. , he's actually back to being a little bit more himself this last week.

[00:39:42] Mat Germain: But the more that they put pressure on themselves and then it seems to. Like these two series, a good example. So when they started out with against the Yankees, it seemed like they had momentum, right? And then the more that series went, the less momentum they seemed to had. They inked out one win at the end, but [00:40:00] you still didn't feel like the Rays had really good momentum, especially whenever they didn't have a ginormous lead going into the eighth inning.

[00:40:08] Mat Germain: Right. And so I think it's important for them to keep momentum is all I'm saying. 

[00:40:16] Mark Corbett: Well, I think that's critical for the success of any team, and they definitely need it. I mean, the enthusiasm that they have out there. But then they see, um, your team give up two runs in the the eighth and two in the ninth.

[00:40:33] Mark Corbett: And suddenly it's like that just can completely deflate a team because you were winning and you just lost that game. Because pitching, , pitching wasn't what it should be, , and you can't blame it all on the pitcher, but those kind of things can't deflate a team. I posted something on, Twitter the other day.

[00:40:49] Mark Corbett: It was some Kevin Cash and Randy in the dugout, and Kevin's looking over at Randy, they're both leaning up against the bar out at the field and Randy's got that. [00:41:00] Look of kind of a stern look and Kevin looks over to, to Randy and takes his hands and just makes, tries to make a little smile like, Hey, smile.

[00:41:07] Mark Corbett: You know, without saying, it just puts his lips up there like that. And, uh, Randy looks saying, shakes his head, no, it's like that, that said so much. I said, dag on Randy, if you're feeling like that, bro, we're, we got some problems.

[00:41:21] Mat Germain: Yeah, he's not feeling his mojo to last. , little bit. I feel like he's definitely taken it a little bit of a step back, not having yandy definitely hurt in the, , in the Met Series.

[00:41:30] Mat Germain: And I felt the more the Met Series went, the more the bats were tightening up and they were pressing. And the last game, especially like today, they were pressing, he felt like the bats, the yeah, bats were quicker. They were not as, , patient at the plate and especially against a, a picture like Miguel, I don't know if they just.

[00:41:46] Mat Germain: Figured that they would be able to dominate 'em at some point, but , they just didn't have those steady, , good eye at the plate at bats that , they've become really good at this year. So maybe they just wanted to get home, some home [00:42:00] cooking and, uh, Get some good, you know, Grubb in you , and a little bit of sleep in your own Mat ress and see how it goes in the next series, the feelgood series against Willie Adames , and all the x-Rays.

[00:42:12] Mat Germain: Mike Brosseau coming back. I don't think Chapman's pitching for the Rays yet, but that would've been interesting.

[00:42:20] Mat Germain: But yeah, it's, , it's gonna be a fun series. Ozzie Timmons is still there, so yeah. Uh, we're gonna get to see some pushups, , in the opposing dugouts. And, I think the series will be fun. And then they'll take on, the Jays, which. That to me is a series. I would love to see them go three in, one in.

[00:42:38] Mat Germain: Oh yeah. I want them to take three or four. If they can get four, that's great. But I'll take three outta four just because I feel like the Jays need it. The Jays need to be told that the Rays are better. And, and if the Rays don't do that, that's gonna bring a big question up because the, the jays made them look, we're, we're the first team this year to make them [00:43:00] look human.

[00:43:00] Mat Germain: Yeah. Right. So they've gotta set the tone this time and say, no, no, no, no, no. We're the big dog and, and you have to take a seat back. 

[00:43:10] Mark Corbett: Well, I'm ready for that, brother. I'm, I'm actually gonna go up to, , one of the other AL East teams. I'm gonna head up to Boston here in a few weeks and watch the Rays play up there.

[00:43:18] Mark Corbett: So that should be kinda interesting too. Any recommendations? 

[00:43:22] Mat Germain: I just love Fenway. I, that's one of the first places that I can honestly say I saw a baseball game and, , to me it has that whole, uh, you know, the best feel of it. They have great snacks. , you're right over the top of the field. You can hear everybody.

[00:43:37] Mat Germain: Everybody's doing and eye. They're all part of the game. They're all very knowledgeable of the game. You may not always agree with their point of view, but they'll let you say yours and they'll say theirs. And that's all. That's part of the game. So I love going to Fenway. There's lots to do there.

[00:43:50] Mat Germain: There's lots of great action around the stadium as well. , so I think if you're, if you like to play pool and all that kind of stuff, there's a nice bar, right, Bob, outside the, , [00:44:00] outfield wall and the right field that's, uh, that's solid. So I would recommend that. And, , Just, you know, get out in the town.

[00:44:07] Mat Germain: I love Boston. Go to Quincy Market and buy, , the Wife a few things. There you go. 

[00:44:12] Mark Corbett: Okay. Well thank you man. I appreciate it, brother. Talking again today with Mat Germain, and you can find him on Twitter @Mat_Germain_. Jermaine is G E R M a I n, underscore. , @Mat_Germain_. underscore. That's where you can find him. Oh gosh. All right, brother. Is there anything else we should be looking at or addressing today? Um, 

[00:44:39] Mat Germain: I think the thing to look for now , is who's gonna be the first team to make that trade?

[00:44:44] Mat Germain: , and how does that set the tone for the other trades? Because I think now you're getting that zone of time when trades start, , maybe the first week of June. , but you're gonna start to hear the chatter a lot more because some teams will fall back. They'll be comfortable making, , one or two key deals.

[00:44:59] Mat Germain: , [00:45:00] The first team that sets the tone there, puts pressure on all the other ones. Last year it was the Braves, right? They were very aggressive early on, and I think they, people didn't see them as being aggressive and impactful at the time, but they turned out to be that like that, right? Oh, yeah. So I think , the key , is that essentially is who's plugging up their holes and shoring up the, the ship for, for that strong storm, right?

[00:45:23] Mat Germain: I want to see who that is because that GM's gonna be, , putting himself out there , and what do other teams around them do at that point? 

[00:45:31] Mark Corbett: Excitement will out my friend. Well thank y'all again for joining us here today on BaseballBiz On Deck. And Mat , thanks again for coming on Brother. You always give insight to all of us Rays fan with another RaysUp edition of BaseballBiz. So, uh, appreciate all you've done and keep going at it, my friend. 

[00:45:48] Mat Germain: Thank you very much.

[00:45:49] Mat Germain: Ride me on, I always appreciate it. 

[00:45:51] Mark Corbett: Okay, brother, we take care and thanks again. 

Special Thanks to Mat Germain. Mat can be found on Twitter @Mat_Germain_
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Tags: Rays,Mets,Yankess,New York,Tampa,RaysUp,Kevin Cash,Randy Arozarena,Yandy Diaz,Tyler Glasnow,Pete Fairbanks,Pete Alonso,Jose Siri,Aaron Boone,Domingo German,Jason Adam,Aaron Judge,Drew Rasmussen,Shane McClanahan,Taj Bradley,Isaac Paredes,Wander Franco,Tommy Johns